Life Videos

Marina Abramović on Her Legendary Rhythm Series – 'I Was Ready to Go to the End' | Tate

The interview with Marina Abramović delves into her seminal Rhythm series, a body‑centric body of work from the mid‑1970s that pushed the limits of endurance, danger, and ritual. Abramović recounts how the performances were scarcely recorded at the time, and how a handful of battered photographs now serve as the primary evidence of five landmark pieces. She outlines the meticulous, self‑imposed instructions that governed each work: Rhythm 10’s knife‑stabbing game in Edinburgh, performed with twenty knives, dual tape recorders, and witnessed by Joseph Beuys; Rhythm 5’s incendiary star that fused communist iconography with a gasoline‑fuelled fire; Rhythm 4’s wind‑blown inhalation in Milan that induced unconsciousness; Rhythm 2’s pharmacological duel in Zagreb that blurred consciousness; and Rhythm 0’s six‑hour tableau in Naples where she offered herself as a passive object to 76 audience‑chosen implements. Memorable moments include Abramović’s declaration, “I was ready to go to the end,” her anger at being rescued after the star caught fire, and the chilling line, “I take all responsibility,” spoken while a participant placed a loaded pistol on her chest. Beuys’s warning—“Be very careful, fire is a dangerous thing”—underscores the tension between mentorship and reckless autonomy. Abramović’s narrative illustrates how performance art migrated from clandestine venues to institutional collections, redefining the artist’s body as both medium and message. Her work interrogates consent, audience complicity, and the politics of bodily sacrifice, influencing contemporary practices that explore trauma, endurance, and the ethics of participation.